Balangon bananas take about 23 to 28 days from harvest to reach Japan since the fruit have\nto be assembled from small and scattered farms, hence the problems of premature ripening and crown\nrot. The effectiveness of vacuum packaging in retarding ripening and in controlling crown rot has\nnot been documented for organically-grown Balangon bananas. Balangon bananas harvested from\nfarms in Don Severino Benedicto, Negros Occidental, Phillipines, were washed three times in tap\nwater, then packed (wet packing) in a 13-kg capacity corrugated fibreboard carton lined with 0.05 mm\nthick low density polyethylene (LDPE) bag, and vacuum-packed using an ordinary vacuum cleaner.\nBananas treated with 1% sodium bicarbonate were also subjected to vacuum packing. Packaged\nbananas were then loaded in refrigerated vans (13.0ââ?¬â??13.5 ââ??¦C), transported to Manila and then to\nthe UPLB-PHTRC laboratory for simulated domestic and international shipments which took about\n25 days from harvest until the bananas reached Japan. Bananas were then taken out of the sealed\nLDPE, allowed to equilibrate at 18 ââ??¦C, treated with 2500 Ã?¼L/L ethephon, and held at 23 ââ??¦C for\nripening. During the 25-day holding at 13.0ââ?¬â??13.5 ââ??¦C, bananas that were vacuum-packaged remained\ngreen. In the control (not vacuum-packaged), a few fingers in each hand started to ripen. The most\nsignificant effect of vacuum packaging in combination with 13 ââ??¦C storage was the control of crown\nrot, particularly when bananas started to ripen. With vacuum packaging, the incidence of crown\nrot at the ripe stage was 2.8% compared with 55.7% in the control. Sodium bicarbonate did not\ncontrol crown rot alone, nor contribute to the reduction caused by packaging and vacuum associated\nwith the control of decay was the high visual quality rating of the fruit. Extended storage under\nvacuum-packed conditions did not significantly affect the physico-chemical and sensory attributes of\nbananas at the ripe stage.
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